THE Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council is on a roll. According to its chairman, Mr Rakesh Mehra, it is probably the only export promotion council in India that has crossed the export target set by the Government this year.

While attributing this to exporters taking full advantage of the quotas available, Mr Mehra told mediapersons at a press conference here that in the last four years, exports grew from Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 7,500 crore. The council exported more than $1.5 billion in yarn, made-ups, fabrics and garments this year, and expects to cross $1.75 billion next year. According to Mr Mehra, this target is not much higher than the previous target because of the shutdown of the powerloom segment in March-April protesting the completion of the Cenvat chain.

Mr Mehra said part of the council's success was based on the fact that it was actively scouting around for new markets in Africa, Asia and South America, and this was also the reason why its members' exports were rising.

He said the council's trade fairs in Morocco and Tunisia had thrown up opportunities. Forty-five companies had exhibited their products in Morocco and had been visited by 550 buyers and sellers.

In the next eight months, the council will conduct 16 promotional exercises in Russia, Vietnam, Korea, Panama, Ghana, Lebanon, Colombia and Ecuador.

He said Russia represented huge potential because 80 per cent of the synthetic exports to Turkey were in yarn form which was then converted to furnishings and value-added fabrics and sold to Russia. He estimated that most of the Rs 395.18-crore exports to Turkey were re-exported with value-additions to Russia. In the 1970s and 1980s Russia was a major textile export destination for India.

In 2002-03, fabric contributed 48.21 per cent of synthetic and rayon textile exports; followed by yarn at 30.84 per cent; made-ups at 18.05 per cent and fibre at 2.9 per cent. Yarn exports rose 34.79 per cent to Rs 2,352.78 crore in 2002-03 from Rs 1,745.40 crore in 2001-02, whereas fabrics registered a 24.10 per cent increase to Rs 3,677.94 crore in 2002-03 and made-up exports rose 10.04 per cent to Rs 1,163.82 crore.